Sour Sport
by DiamondPixie
Summary: AU. Axel is a cocky performer from a long line of incredible dancers hired by Saix, the manager of a theatre that is quite popular with high society. The manager feels like he has the best in the business, but what happens when his assistant informs him that his new recruit wants the lime light to himself? AxelSaix Rating may change.


**Okay, so this is very very different from what you might see with Saix and Axel. Axel's a dancer, which I think would be incredibly fun, and Saix is the manager of the theatre he works for. This is going to be a multi-chapter story, alternating point of views with some interesting twists. **

**Allow me to note that this is AU and will eventually involve romance. Eventually.**

**I hope you enjoy.**

Saix

The theatre was his pride and joy. He'd always been one for the arts, whether it be dance or musical performances, even a good play peaked his interest. It was the whole reason he'd worked so hard to get a job as the manager of the large palace of performance. The scarred male wanted people to walk in, sit on the plush, expensive seats of his auditorium and have a great emotional experience as they watched his dancers express themselves on stage.

Saix himself had no particular talents. After an accident in his teens, he'd never bothered taking up theatre arts. Who'd want a dancer with an ugly twisted scar on their face, after all? He could paint, sure, draw with the best of them, but really, it was just to pass the time. He didn't long for his paintings to sit on a shelf on a museum, he wanted to produce living art and the theatre gave him another chance to do just that. And he was perfectly content with sitting in the background. Other people could clearly pick up on the passion he held. Each dance was carefully choreographed, each song was written and handled with the utmost care by the greatest composers he had. It was perfect.

Everything was perfect.

The tall scarred male stepped through the back door of his theatre, hair tied up in a ponytail and a calm expression on his face as he stepped into the large hallways where some of his dancers were stretching for their morning practice. He nodded to a few of his tall, slender ballerinas as they waved his way, pleased to see they were in good spirits. As long as his employees were happy, he was sure to have a pleasant day without anything too troublesome coming about. Saix was a good leader as well and his employees had nothing to complain about, unless it was, of course, his inability to be exceptionally social with them. Time to time, though, he would surprise them with an appearance during their practices, where they were more than happy to show the manager their progress.

He continued down the hall and up a flight of stairs, turning to see his assistant Marluxia shuffling through a bit of paperwork at his desk, office door wide open. Aside from the mess in his hands, his desk was immaculate, an indication of the type of worker he was. He was very precise and to the clean with his work, never late for a deadline, like Saix himself, which is why he was the perfect choice for an assistant and a best friend. A small smirk graced the scarred man's lips when Marluxia reached forward, adjusting his name plate just so, the neat black letters spelling out the other's last name neatly.

The man blew at the rosy bangs in his face, a small frown on his lips as he did so. It was quite perplexing that the bright young man would ever be in such a mood. The manager walked over to the office, leaning against the doorway and clearing his throat. The weary assistant raised his head and placed the handful of paper work in a folder.

"It seems we have a bad egg, Mr. Thorton." Marluxia had insisted on a last name basis when they were working. He liked the feeling of professionalism it brought to their theatre. Saix hadn't objected. As long as their jobs were done it didn't matter if they were on a first or last name basis.

He had expected Marluxia to say a lot of things; perhaps a suggestion for the date of their next performance, an inventory list, perhaps even a comment about his clothing – which he liked to comment on a lot. He had not anticipated the other male to tell him that one of his dancers wasn't up to par. He'd hoped that perhaps whatever flaw they happened to have could be corrected with a few well-instructed lessons.

"Is that so, Mr. Kando. Would you mind elaborating?" He asked, moving to sit down in one of the chairs before his assistant's desk, crossing one leg over the other before looking up at the male. The other male said nothing, simply extending his arm to hand the other a rather full folder, which he took and placed in his lap, opening the folder cautiously, as though something was going to spring out of it if he wasn't.

As soon as he read through one of the files, his lips curled into a deep frown and anyone could see that Saix was quite unhappy with what he saw. There were many complaint files from other dancers and instructors, even his receptionist. He was rather appalled to see that every letter of complaint was about the same exact person.

Axel Flynn, the perfect example of a well-bred dancer, had been hired to perform here for the greatest of audiences because of his incredible dancing skills. His parents were quite famous performers and it was only expected that the red head was also quite talented. Saix had wanted that kind of blood in his studio; the kind you could only pick up after it had been cultivated by the finest instructors. So of course the man was surprised to see every file stamped with his name along with a few choice words that his dancers had no problem writing down. It seemed that his perfect dancer was indeed a bad egg. Apparently the male had a terrible attitude and was incredibly rude and pompous, which surprised him. Marluxia had said Axel was quite a joy when he came in for an interview.

"But how could this be?" He asked, not exactly at his happiest. The Twilight Theatre had rules that had to be followed and if one failed to follow – famous or not – it could result in the termination of their employment. He wanted his performers to work together and be well-rounded, flexible performers which, by the paperwork he currently held in his hands, Axel was not.

"It seems he's quite the drama queen. Incredibly cocky as well and he refuses to dance with any other performers, which is definitely a problem in our upcoming shows." Marluxia looked a bit on the down side, seeing as the fiery red head had proved to be the opposite of what he had told his boss he was. It was true though; the dancer had seemed quite kind and willing to do any work to get where he wanted when he first stepped into the office. The assistant felt rather uneasy about his decision now. Saix shook his head.

"Well, I'll certainly get to the bottom of this. We have to work together in order for this theatre to continue to thrive. I believe a personal visit during practice is in order." He said, standing and adjusting his baby blue button up shirt. He closed the folder, setting it back on Marluxia's desk before rolling his sleeves up to his elbows. The other male took the folder, continuing to organize a few more complaint letters inside. "Once you're done, place that on my desk and ready me a letter of probation." He requested, moving to step out of the door. "Also, have on my desk-"

"A cup of tea, two sugars. Yes sir." There was a bit of a playful lilt in his friend's voice as he said so and he turned to see the other smile, knowing he was only happy because he didn't have to deal with the problem at hand. Whatever.

Saix stepped down the stairs again, heading toward the hall where a couple of dancers still lingered. He beckoned over a small blonde, Namine, and gave her a kind smile. "Do you know where Mr. Flynn is practicing today?" He asked, watching as a small pout formed on her delicate features.

"He took over practice room 2B." She replied, taking the hair tie from around her wrist and proceeding to tie her hair up in a neat bun for practice. He muttered his thanks, sighing as he began toward the practice room. Took over? How long as this been happening? Just who did this Mr. Flynn think he was? He reprimanded himself inwardly for not paying close enough attention to his work and his employees. He even went as far as questioning his usually good judgment as he reached the practice room door. It was too late to start being hard on himself now, though. If things went well, the red head would get an attitude check and he'd be just fine. If not, he wasn't sure how long his dancers could take the other before he had to fire the greatest dancer he'd ever higher. Judging by the complaints, they wouldn't be able to take much more of the other's bad attitude.

The scarred male decided he had to take matters into his own hands and by giving personal attention to his dancer, perhaps tweaking that attitude just a bit, he could hopefully make him understand just how important his contributions to the theatre were.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the door, catching the other in the middle of dancing. The manager stopped for a moment, feeling frozen in place as he observed the carefully executed movements and the rich, raw emotion the other presented when dancing. It was all rather mystical, the way he so carefully extended strong arms legs as he moved. It was hard to believe that watching something that made him feel so calm was the product of someone with a terrible attitude worthy of ghastly complaints. It was time to be a manager though and he had to treat the other just how those complaints warranted him to be treated.

Saix walked over to the music player, flipping the switch and turning it off, face expressionless as the red head immediately stopped dancing. He turned to Saix, an irritated look on his face. It was quite obvious that the other was far from happy that the scarred male had interrupted his practice.

"Uh, excuse me." He said with a bit of disdain, placing his hands on his slender hips as he spoke. "I'm in the middle of practice here." Axel walked over to the other, looking at him expectantly. He was certainly snappy and incredibly rude. The other dancers must have been quite intimidated if they allowed the male to keep the practice room to himself. The fact was unacceptable and Saix wasted no time getting to the point.

"Mr. Flynn, it is my job to stop you in the middle of practice when there is something to be discussed." He said simply. "It seems that I need to place you on a thirty day probation. We've had quite a bit of complaints about you lately and I believe it would be best to monitor you and give you the chance to keep your place in my theatre. If you are unable to, I'm afraid your termination will be inevitable."

Axel looked like he had no idea what the man was talking about.

**Alright! Chapter one is now complete and I'm quite pleased with it. I chose my characters very carefully and I just see Marluxia as one of Saix's good friends when it comes to AU. Let me know what you think about the theme in general and give me a bit of feedback and I'll try my best to make the next chapters better. Thank you for reading~ **


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